Chadster's Vacation Adventures: Final Edition!

This park does look a lot worse for the wear, compared to earlier trip reports, but it's still very high on my must-visit list. Man, I sure hope they keep this place open for another few years...

Wow... Had to login for the first time in awhile (SORRY TPR!) just to reply to this...

Before I moved to Pittsburgh 3 years ago from Northern Indiana, I absolutely loved Indiana Beach. I grew up with the commercials with the catchy tune ("theres more than corn in Indiana, it's the best part of Americana"), fell in love with the park, and even have a IB Crow talking bobblehead on my desk. All that to say... This TR completely depressed me. I knew the park had gone downhill, but I had NO idea how bad it really was. The last time I was there was the year Morgan took over. They actually made some decent changes at first. Cashless ticketing/wristbands, some nice paint jobs, etc... It seems since that happened, it's been all downhill. Don't get me wrong... even at it's best, the park still had that "creepy chaotic carny" feel, but it was still well run, and had "charm".

The flat rides on the boardwalk were one of my favorite parts of the park. The himalaya, yo-yo (water swings), and Falling Star were 3 of my favorite rides at the park. They all ran fantastic cycles and the location was so unique. Seeing those same rides sitting in a parking lot or even SBNO is so sad. The coasters used to be maintained well and now they look awful (LoCoSuMo especially). General park upkeep appears to be suffering as well. In a few pictures I saw weeds growing out of cracks in the midway/sidewalks. And then I find out that even the Tacos have gone down hill!? I can assure you, at one time, those Tacos were excellent... I brought many friends to IB, and they all agreed.

As someone said earlier in this thread, the park has such an amazing location, and so much potential. It's just so sad to see whats happened. I certainly hope someone saves this park. New ownership doesn't have to mean the park falls apart. My new home park of Kennywood is proof of that. I hope Indiana Beach can someday be restored to what it once was (or even better).

^The tacos were ok, but not earth shattering and certainly a step above Six Flags food. I found that they were using mostly bought-in pre-prepared ingredients and was expecting a little more fresh if that makes sense.

Does the Log Flume tunnel still have a billion pieces of gum?

The gum is still there, I didn't mind it actually, it was one of the things that was actually cool.

Eli Bridge did issue a bulletin a few years ago telling parks to either install seat belts on the ride or to enforce the "no single riders rule" on Scramblers.

Sue happy America. I'm deducing it's to prevent people from standing up while the ride is in motion just like the ferris wheels and a laundry list of other rides that have given in to this sad state. I suppose it was cheaper to hang a sign than to spend a few hundred on belts and bolts.

Thanks for the trip report!

 

Can't forget about the 10 foot gap in the restraining mechanism drop tower!

Did the réstraints on the S&S Double Shot even ratchet down at all, or was it just the seatbelt holding you in?

Yeah, they were down and locked, just a tad loose tho

I'm disappointed to see Indiana Beach look like this. I had a blast at that park during the 2007 Midwest Trip because the atmosphere seemed very lively, well-kept, and there was Fascination.

 

Now it's just depressing to look at. Thanks for the update, at least your visit was interesting with the valley.

I honestly had to take a step back and think how the park might have turned out in the photos had it been a clear blue sky instead of angry looking clouds about to unleash hell; I don't think it would have helped much other than the background not looking washed out. Like others have said, I just get the sense of lack of care. Even at the ghettoist of parks, like Keansburg, they look like they give a damn. On this visit at least, I get the impression they don't.

So next up on my Mid America Adventure I head north, and north could mean SFGA or MA, hmmm, tough choice.

Eli Bridge did issue a bulletin a few years ago telling parks to either install seat belts on the ride or to enforce the "no single riders rule" on Scramblers.

 

Sue happy America. I'm deducing it's to prevent people from standing up while the ride is in motion just like the ferris wheels and a laundry list of other rides that have given in to this sad state. I suppose it was cheaper to hang a sign than to spend a few hundred on belts and bolts.

I don't think stand up is so much as a concern as someone laying down on the bench and slipping under the front gate at that little girl did at Rye Playland a few years ago. But common sense should dictate that single riders of a certain size (who can not slip through the opening) can ride solo.

I registered at the forum just to post this. May seem not worth the effort, but I don't care. I don't let stuff like this slide.

On the way out I found this "Featured on Food Network" Taco Stand. Not exactly believing them I looked it up on my phone to find it was featured in about a 30 second block as the best taco...on the boardwalk maybe. I tried it, it was ok. Cheese whiz, pre-cut and bagged lettuce, standard taco meat, nothing amazing, but it was cheap.

I had the tacos there last week. I have a season pass. I've had them countless times. They're popular mostly because they tortilla shells are fried right before they are served, which almost no one else does. There is NO cheese whiz in the tacos. It's white shredded cheese, possibly chihuahua queso, but I can't tell. But it's not cheese whiz. The fact you have to post a lie to embellish your review is kind of sad. Pretty much would not read anything else you review, because of the boy that cried wolf effect. White lies in reviews count, I'm sorry.

The Food Network did have a segment on the tacos and the now defunct Luigi's Italian Sausage place a few years ago. It wasn't a 30 second spot. It was at least several minutes on a show about theme park food. Just because you're too freaking lazy to do the research doesn't mean you should post this garbage as fact.

I do have my own issues with Indiana Beach even though I love it. I think the whole place needs a new paint job for one, and they also need to fix the water pressure so they're running all the water slides at once. But that doesn't excuse publishing factual inaccuracies in a review.

I registered at the forum just to post this. May seem not worth the effort, but I don't care. I don't let stuff like this slide.

 

I had the tacos there last week. I have a season pass. I've had them countless times. They're popular mostly because they tortilla shells are fried right before they are served, which almost no one else does. There is NO cheese whiz in the tacos. It's white shredded cheese, possibly chihuahua queso, but I can't tell. But it's not cheese whiz. The fact you have to post a lie to embellish your review is kind of sad. Pretty much would not read anything else you review, because of the boy that cried wolf effect. White lies in reviews count, I'm sorry.

 

The Food Network did have a segment on the tacos and the now defunct Luigi's Italian Sausage place a few years ago. It wasn't a 30 second spot. It was at least several minutes on a show about theme park food. Just because you're too freaking lazy to do the research doesn't mean you should post this garbage as fact.

 

I do have my own issues with Indiana Beach even though I love it. I think the whole place needs a new paint job for one, and they also need to fix the water pressure so they're running all the water slides at once. But that doesn't excuse publishing factual inaccuracies in a review.

Fanboy much?

I tend to not get involved with things like this, but I'm afraid you've not only stepped over a line, you've danced across it and well into next week.

Everybody is entitled to their reviews on food. Food is an extremely subjective opinion all around, and one that depends on the person eating the food in the first place. Where I find fault in your accusations is this: Were you there? Did you eat what he was eating? And for that matter HOW do you know so much about a taco being produced there? I'm sorry if I sound abrupt on this, but something isn't right about this.

You come in and immediately accuse somebody of lying simply to counter a bad review? Really? Having read many reviews not only here but across the interwebs about Indiana Beach and the decline of the park, I have to say not only was Chadster's review accurate, but on-point with many other opinions of the park recently.

To simply accuse somebody of embellishing a story when you have no proof nor evidence to me is wrong- and something I find totally reprehensible in every way. Chadster registered his opinion of the food, backed it up with suitable research and presented it to the readers of the forum, as any good travel reviewer would do. You are entitled to your opinion, so is Chadster.

R.D.

Oh lord another fanboy. I'm sorry that you don't agree with my assesment of the park. I live near dozens of authentic owned by real Mexicans Mexican restaurants and compared to them, the tacos were just ok. Sorry, but that's my opinion. And yes, the walking taco that I also had had cheese wiz on it, hate to tell you but it did.

Furthermore I watched the segment on the 2009 one offshow titled Sunnys Summer Eats. It's on YouTube. A good portion of that two minute and change segment was her riding the sky ride, a roller coaster, and talking with people as well as the owner of the taco shoppe. The part directly related to the Taco Shoppe where they show how they prepare the tacos was damn close to 30 seconds.

A few notes, this site is built on humor,if you can't deal with humor, this may not be the place for you. Am I worried that you will not ever read anything I post again? No. Because your registration today just to bitch that you didn't like what I thought about your beloved taco stand tells me all I need to know.

If you like the site, please stick around, but don't come in here, first post and sound off, its not only rude but highly disrespectful to one of the sites most active contributors of quality content.

Peace, love, and happiness.

And now that I have taken time to respond to your asinine comments, I am going to go back out in the hundred degree heat to continue gathering exclusive content for the those who enjoy my reports to read.

Don't worry guys, his taco crusade was short-lived.

But who will speak for the tacos now?

I never tried the traveling tacos at Indiana Beach, but I did like the elephant ears.

I finally took my first visit to IB last year. I had fun. Yeah the park could have been "spruced" up a bit, but we made the best of it and had a very enjoyable day. We even had tacos for lunch from the world famous taco shop, and I do remember them putting that chihuahua queso on it. Maybe they changed it from last year, who knows, but I thougtht the taco was enjoyable.

I sadly haven't been back to IB. I have been wanting to go again since a couple of coasters were down when I was there last.

I want to get to IB sooner than later. I'm thinking a Midwest type trip is in the cards sometime in the next year or so.

We just went to IB two weeks ago with the kids and had a good time. The bathrooms look nicer on the outside with newer paint than our previous visit a few years back. The place is basically a ghetto carnival with some fun coasters and the location is nice, but one can never expect too much going in. Thankfully all the coasters were operating well this time. It's fun for a day and hope it can survive.

The Double Shot tower does have a harness in addition to the seatbelt, to answer a previous post. I felt safe. Great location for that on the water.

^What did you think of the tacos?

^What did you think of the tacos?

Believe it or not, we skipped them because we ate lunch on the way to the park and the park closed before we grabbed dinner. I saw people eating something out of a Fritos bag with a fork at that stand that looked interesting. Taco salad maybe?

Great stuff Chad. I have been wanting to visit IB for a long time, it's sad to hear that it's taking a turn for the worse. I still hope to get there one day. Hoping my work travels will take me to IN before the end of the season actually.

I'll make sure I skip the taco's. Having been born and raised in CA, I have had my share of amazing taco's, and quite a few bad ones. Nothing worse than somebody trying to convince somebody else what is/isn't good.

^^That was the walking taco with the non-grated cheese. I've seen variations of it at other places using Doritos, I was however very disappointed in the dispenser cheese put on them.

^They won't make you sick or anything, I mean are they good, yes, are they party in my mouth good? No. I've actually had some really good Mexican in Cali, looking forward to coming back for more

Anyway

So was this the first ever butt hurting via taco diss in TPR history?

^Yes. Who else thinks we should change the name of this thread to Chadster's Taco Adventures. Evidently, there is a market out there since there is at least one obsessed taco enthusiasts who can't let these injustices slide.

+1

Yo Quero Taco Hell.

^^^Do it!

So I was going to head north to the east side but beatle11 talked me into going north to the west side for a visit to Six Flags Great America on May 28th.

I have heard this park can have it's good and bad days and thankfully for me, my second visit to the park was just as good as my first visit last year. This was considered a school day and the park was plagued with school kids, but as any well traveled enthusiast knows, these kids go home early. So I planned accordingly by picking and choosing rides to the left of the main entrance and making the circle. I was able to marathon about anything I wanted on the lower side of the park the first few hours, score! Most of the crowds ran with the bulls to X-Flight while I took a leisurely stroll over to batman.

All in all it was an enjoyable day, even more enjoyable when fellow TPR peeps JoJo and Jeremie showed up around 4:30.

So here we go! And if you want to see all of my taco free photos, clicky.

Figure I'd change up the front entrance shot a little bit, gotta be different.

Lunch!

I don't recall seeing this last time, of course I wasn't looking for it either, but they do have some rather tasty fresh baked donuts and whatnot, a surprise for a Six Flags park. I found most of the teachers could be located in here.

Please ride me, please ride me...ok, why not. Nothing like solo rides to get your day started.

They just don't build them like they used to.

Wow, long lines this morning.

Yeah, that's right, you guys are headed straight into the bowels of hell, muwahahaha

No swimming.

This has to be one of the most photogenic Six Flags parks.

Even last September when I visited the park was full of color and vibrant so I'm glad to see it's a full time thing.

Pole riders.

Hey, there was no moose out front!

Hi ironic.

There is no, Life I know, To compare with pure imagination, Living there, You'll be free, If you truly wish to...be

Who knows that this is used on? Bonus points for who can say what it is.

Hint

WARNING! Keep your hands inside the car at all times.

Your missing traditional X-Flight photos you say? Well fine, here you go.

They get an A for the theme.

And a B&M for effort.

But most importantly they have the cool factor.

Now showing on TNT. If you thought when Shapiro left the ad wraps would leave too, you thought wrong, very very wrong.

Enough of that, lets go drop in on Anton

via a painful experience.

Anton looks good through the trees.

Whizzing away

Anton loves you too.

"Justin! Justin! I'm your biggest fan! Justin Bieber look here!"

All of that riding makes me sweat, time to cool off a bit.

More like a lot. Not Dan approved.

Speaking of water, lets finish up with some photos from the sky.

A well placed tower makes all the difference in the world.

The flags were all down in the water park, no six flags day today.

On a clear day you can see....for miles!

You can also look at steel if you prefer

Fly little bird, fly.

> Cyclone.

And as I bring this adventure to an end, I'll take a quick minute to peek down Anton's shirt.

There you have it, that's all folks!

Next week we will play a little game where I will give a way some decent crap. What's the game, well, it's has to deal with cleanliness. Any guesses on what it will be?

First off, I want to say that I like the rename of the thread. Second, I'm glad you had a great time at the park - again. I do agree with you about SFGAm being one of the most photogenic parks. It's also one of my favorite SF parks. Glad you had a great day!

I also want to say that yeah maybe some people have bad days at our park, but the person who wrote that had their top ten coasters from Cedar Point.

Someone needs to kidnap me and take me to Chicago. Great update Chad!

Someone needs to kidnap me and take me to Chicago.

I agree! It looks like a beautiful park with a good variety of coasters. Great TR!

And I too approve of the thread name change!